[ key heart attack! ]

sooooooo... my boys, oscar 4 & flynn 2, & i took our beautiful husky, lennon, to be groomed at petsmart today. this dog is a hair machine!! it is literally coming out in clumps & it seems the more i brush him the more fur he generates!! i read somewhere that huskies fur can be spun & used for knitting. http://www.vipfibers.com/

i wish i could find someone that wanted it ~ or maybe i should blow the dust off my knitting needles & have a go... there's probably a few horrified faces out there thinking nooooo... not you knitting again!! i get a bit obsessive, not to mention frustrated when it doesn't come out right!! i remember knitting the whole way back on a flight from the usa to the uk & getting told to put my needles away for landing... the stewardess literally had to rip them out of my hands!!!

anyway anyway anyway... we drop off lennon. i remember putting my water & keys down on the counter to sign the waiver.

then the boys & i walked to home goods... (not a fan, i can never find anything i want in there). then onto best buy. we are all getting hungry so i say to the boys lets go get some lunch! that suggestion was greeted by a very enthusiastic response! i look in my bag & YIKES!!!! no car keys!! holy moly!! oh no no no...

ok ~ lets keep calm & retrace our steps... i start back at petsmart... i can imagine my keys on the counter so vividly i'm convinced they are there. so when i'm told that no you didn't leave them here i kind of find it hard to believe.... i'm trying to do sneaky looking behind the counter to check they're not there!

after she tells me for the third time they are not here... i can't think of anything else to say & have to leave... my heart sank... what if someone else picked them up by mistake. great ~ i'm about to have to camp out at the mall with 2 hungry boys & a groomed husky....

oscar says he has an idea!! EXCELLENT, things are looking up!!

oscar: mom don't worry... why don't you phone up dad & ask to borrow his car. ay ay good idea right??

me: well... the thing is daddy is at work & we don't have anyway of getting there... (checking my bag for the 497th time i suddenly realize i left my phone in the car...) er... there's a slight flaw in your plan oscar... mommy left the phone in the car...

great ~ i'm about to have to camp out at the mall with 2 hungry boys,  a groomed husky.... & no phone!!

okay okay... we go next to home goods... i'm not holding out much hope at all...

i see a store assistant, stop her & ask if anyone has handed in any keys... she very uninterestedly (is that a word?? well it is now!) didn't even stop walking & informed me i had to ask the lady wearing red... i'd just like to say thank you to that shop assistant... your care & concern really truly left me feeling warm & fuzzy!!

the lady wearing red was working at the returns desk that had a line of about 5 people... i stand in line for what seems like hours waiting to be put out of my misery... i try to stop myself going crazy thinking about 1 million ways of surviving living in a mall! maybe twe'll get made into a film ~ like that guy that lived in the airport!! i'm also trying to think what are we going to do if i can't find the keys... it's the only car key i have!!!

i'm having to listen to all these excuses why people had brought things back. i don't know why we have to come up with explanations... shouldn't it be enough that we are here with the receipt??

anyway... things are feeling more grim... i see another cashier open so i scoot over to her & pleadingly ask her if anyone has handed in any keys???? she replies yes!!! i follow her over to a drawer which she opens & pulls out my keys!!! cue hallelujah chorus!!!

i could have kissed that lady!! ...but i didn't!! i did thank her about 32 times though!!

then we all went skipping back to the car!! got to get more car keys!!

[ weeeee-oooooo ]

sooooooo... i finally found the dvd cover of the library's fireman sam!! phew... this is costing me a dollar a day! so i take it back & also stop at the drive through bank to get some cash (got to say the bank drive through really is a brilliant american invention!) my money is given to me in an envelope & i drive away... i get that nagging feeling... you know the one, my parents installed this into me, when i buy a box of eggs, the need to check that none are broken in the store. i've tried not to do this ~ walk away from the fridge but i always break before i get to the cash desk. i don't lift each one up like my dad does...i just turn the box upside down to check they move & that the tops aren't cracked.

so i've driven away from the bank & not checked the cash in the envelope... i get it out & try to count it, but i can't concentrate with flynn telling me to put 'that' song on again & oscar wanting the window open. i pull over in the hard shoulder put on my hazards & count my dough (*english slang for money! ~ see below if you want more of an explanation)

all of a sudden i see in my mirror a police car... noooooooo ~ my knee caps are like jelly, it stops in front of me & as the officer is walking towards my car i look up & see a sign that might as well be glittery & flashing that says NO stopping or standing!

i tell the officer i'm so so sorry i had to stop, my son dropped something... he said that's fine i just wanted to check you were ok! wow!! thank you! thank god i'm in an 'automatic' vehicle not a manual 'stick shift' because i kind of went to pieces pulling off with my hazard's still on, i would have kangarooed up the road!!

flynn says mummy don't cry!! i said mummy's not crying this time!!

he said that because a couple of weeks ago i had to drive my mum to jfk airport to go back home :( my husband usually does this as it's so painful... but he was away on business. so the boys & i drove her there & we just did the 'kiss & fly' thing... that was bad enough ~ i was balling my eyes out, flynn & oscar trying to console me... (making it nicely kind of worse!) goodbyes are heart breaking.

any ways we were stuck in traffic for seemed like 2 weeks, oscar needs me to pull over so he can go pee... so i found a store we went into.

we are nearly home & i need to make a right... the traffic light is red & there are 5 cars in front of me... i NEVER do things like this but i was sooo upset & spurred on by mr ray's 'gimme a hi 5' song we'd been playing non stop... i pulled into the hard shoulder... i'd gone probably 2 lengths of cars when the blue & red lights are flashing... i pull over & the officer doesn't completely come up to my window, asks for my license... i try & tell him i'd just dropped my mum off at the airport & i'm crying, he walks off & then presents me with a ticket... THE THING I HATE THE MOST IS.... i said THANK YOU when he gave me it!! how very british of me!! 4 points & a fine!!

then... to add insult to injury i had an argument with oscar who said he's an amazing hero... !!! i taught him a word he really shouldn't know yet!!!




(*dough ~ mid-1800s slang for bread. bread from cockney rhyming slang, bread and honey = money. bread also has associations with money, 'earning a crust').